Announcements, Author Stuff, Writing

Looking back on 2018

It’s been one heck of a year! There’s always ups and downs, with most turbulence typically concentrated around the last couple of months, I feel this has been a good year for me when I look at the netto outcome.

My memories forever fuzzy but what I do remember is starting to keep track of my wordcounts in EXCEL. I always thought I was a slow writer, that I didn’t write so much, that I’d never finish anything, my concentration sucks and my head’s all over the place most of the time. But by keeping track of my writing progress I’ve learned that none of that is true. Well, except for that last one. My head is always all over the place, and yes, I am a slow writer, but what I write is enough. It’s more than I expected and I did finish stories.

Highlights

2018’s highlights have been my career switch, having tried out belly dancing, and seeing myself grow as an author.

It’s not yet 2019 but looking at my wordcount, I’ve crossed the 200.000 words written milestone for this year. That is WAY more than I’d ever expected to be able to write. I’m a slow writer.

Part of those 200.000+ words are from unfinished projects, but I did complete some manuscripts. In 2007 I finished a WIP for the first time. It took me several years to finish my next one, struggling to find my groove. In 2015 and 2016 I finished one short story each. Things picked up from 2017 on. Four short stories in 2017 and eight this year! I’m hoping to finish one story a month in 2019.

I’ve submitted some of these to online magazines and contests, so I’m hoping that in 2019 I will have one accepted, and that’ll be able to change my website to include “pubbed works”!

For now, we’ll have to do with the three “pubbed works” I posted on my website/wattpad. You can find them here:

Another milestone and highlight I’d like to include is that I did only receive rejections to my submissions, but sending them is a milestone enough. It’s hard to put yourself out there, but it’s worth it. Rejections are part of this game and I need to get used to it. But amongst the rejections, there’s also been two which stand out. Two stories which won Honorable mention and Silver honorable mention at the Writer’s of the future contest. I’m moving forwards. I’m still getting rejected, but my stories are getting better, and that’s a prize in itself 🙂

Yeah, and that was my next highlight. My process is better than before and my prose improved. Because I used to edit while I wrote, it really slowed down and made the drafting process tedious for me. It took me a long time to really unlearn this bad habit, but thankfully Salandrine will be the last project I’ll have this problem with. I’m even proud to say I managed to finish a first draft within five weeks! It’s a blessing to allow myself to write badly so I can at least get those first words down. I can worry about making it a good read after revisions.

I didn’t manage to finish Salandrine, and I do keep complaining about that, but I am happy with everything this WIP had brought me. All the things I learned while working on it. And to see it grow the way it has. I think when all’s written and done, I’ll be proud of this one.

 

I’m positive I’ve forgotten to mention something, but that’s okay. If it’s important, I can always add it later on or make a new post. Anyways, despite all the shitty stuff that’s happened in 2018 (I’m just not gonna talk about it here, because it’ll only bum me out), 2018 was a pretty decent year for me 🙂

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